A 15-member team comprising officers of the Indian Coast Guard, Indian Navy and Maharashtra Marine Police set out on a tour of coastal villages across Maharashtra on Monday. The motorcycle rally is part of a community interaction programme to improve surveillance of the coastal belt.

The programme will enable officers spread awareness on the importance of intelligence gathering that may be utilised to enforce strict vigilance along the coast by maritime security agencies, said a spokesperson for the Coast Guards.

The officers will tour 48 fishing villages in the districts of Thane, Mumbai, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg over a span of seven days. “The main objective will be to interact with the fishing community along the Maharashtra coast and educate them on the importance of coastal security,” said IG SPS Basra, commander Cost Guards (WesternRegion).

“Maharashtra has about 7,000 registered fishing boats and over

2, 60,000 fishing communities. We plan to conduct such rallies every quarter,” said IG Basra.

State Intelligence Department (SID) chief KL Prasad, who was the chief guest at the flagging off ceremony, said that the Maharashtra government has ordered 28 new boats to carry out coastal surveillance more effectively. However Basra was quick to point that no amount of speed boats or surveillance aircraft can be effective unless the intelligence agencies have the support of the local people.

“The sea is vast and every inch of the sea cannot be monitored. It’s only the local fishermen who can monitor their areas effectively,” he said. The intelligence agencies will also create an upgraded database of the villages and maintain contact details of one point person with whom the officials can stay in touch for any correspondence.